


Self-Image Drabble

by Mattie_the_Pand0rk



Category: Undertail - Fandom, Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Body Image, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Food, Gen, Self Image, male body image, male self image, struggling with body image
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-01
Updated: 2018-12-01
Packaged: 2019-09-05 01:57:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16801411
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mattie_the_Pand0rk/pseuds/Mattie_the_Pand0rk
Summary: Aster has told himself to take that mirror out of his bedroom. Well... it's catching up with him.





	Self-Image Drabble

**Author's Note:**

> Decided I'm going to attempt to post a new fic or drabble a month. Enjoy.

Aster looks in his full-length mirror after his shower, towel still wrapped around his waist. He sighs. What happened to him? He doesn’t wonder that—he knows what happened. For years before his Fall to the Void he lived on Instant Noodles and Spider Donuts and coffee and no sleep, until Asgore made him go home for a few days now and again. He was as thin as a wire. Weak, but thin, at least. During his time in the Void he didn’t have a sense of taste, or smell, and his sight, touch, and hearing were dampened severely. He could hardly see colour. He couldn’t smell even the Instant Noodles he’d synthesize from the CoDe. He didn’t eat much, not that he needed to there.  
  
At least until he found Madlayne, and brought her into Haven with him to keep her safe. Her half-Human SOUL drove away much of the effects of the Void Matter on his own being. On top of that, because of her lineage she did need to eat regularly. So he synthesized ingredients for her to make what she wanted. Then he realized he could smell and taste food again, and what she made was absolutely delicious. Who knew how long he went without food, and he couldn’t believe how much he missed it. So he ate. Every meal. Four meals a day. Big meals. Taking time to help Madlayne cook, and bake some treats as well. She had learned how to make the Queen’s Butterscotch Cinnamon Pie. **Oh, how he had missed that.  
  
**And, that’s not to say that he didn’t work hard along side the massive amount of food he was consuming at that point. He had lifted heavy machinery, which had excessive gravity due to the thickness of the Void Matter. He had waded through ponds and lakes of it in the Exclusion Zones to get parts he needed for the Grey Doors and Transporters. Aster had done much of the heavy lifting, being the gentleman he was (and is) so Madlayne wouldn’t hurt herself accommodating for the stronger gravity. And he didn’t seem to gain a pound… while still in the Void.  
  
Unfortunately, when he was able to be pulled from the In-Between world at last, the amount of weight he put on coded into muscle and fat as he was permanently acclimated to the alternate timeline he had been split from, and he was three times bigger than he had been twenty-odd years prior. None of his old clothes fit. And his eyesight was permanently altered, thanks to the injuries on his eyes. So, now. He’s round, daresay forever thanks to his new coding, and hideously marred til the end of time. He pokes his belly and winces.

  
Tears prick his eyes, and purple blush burns his cheeks. He regrets not taking care of himself when he had so many chances to change. It hurts to think of how jealous he is of his darker yet darker counterpart, Viktor Fontaine of the Fallen Timeline. He doesn’t want to be jealous of him, but looking at how strong and hard he looks, he can’t seem to help it. Sure, Aster is extremely strong, magically and physically, but being called an overstuffed marshmallow is not exactly endearing to him all the time, though some people seem to think it’s cute. He tries to accept that he’ll never be as chiseled or ‘ripped’ as Viktor, but who in the Multiverse would ever want to consider dating someone like him?

  
Sure, Madlayne is the exception to that as she expresses great interest on many occasions, but she is struggling over the grief of his ‘Mafia’ counterpart yet and he wants to give her the space she needs to grieve properly. He sighs again and twists around in the mirror, looking at his sides and backside, not even sure why any of this would matter to him in all truth. He was always a man of science. But with Viktor being in the picture he feels like he has to compete, perhaps?

  
After all, the last meeting with officials was very difficult because they assumed Viktor was the Founder, Owner, and CEO of the company with how sharply he looked and dressed. It was hard to convince them without giving names, and even then they looked incredulous, despite wearing the least dorky thing he had in his wardrobe. Aster sniffs, still a bit raw about that horrible day.

  
Madlayne comes into the bedroom without knocking, and sees Aster looking at himself. She knows immediately what’s going on, and wears a stern “Don’t you start that with yourself” look on her face. She walks over and slides her hands around Aster, not caring one bit that he’s still naked. He wipes his tears away on the back of his arm and hugs her back lazily. She squeezes tighter—a challenge to make him squeeze her back better. He snorts a little and gives in, scooping her up in his arms for a giant bear hug. His towel drops when he lets go of it, but he could care less. They both laugh. He feels a little better.


End file.
